Survive Creatively with Love

Life often seems like a battlefield; and why shouldn't it? When we go by warring opinions that result in very different perceptions of the same events in countries an hour's flying time apart, how can we be expected to get along with one another when neighbouring countries find it impossible to co-exist peaceably together?

We fight about who owns what - brave lives are lost over land, ideologies and resources. And when we damage the important ecological systems of our planet, in our greed and desire for greater and greater profitability over our resources, how can we not expect the survival of future generations to be a battle, too? For danger is a great equalizer - everyone is on the same level when our survival is in question.

Some believe we ignore contrary opinions to our own, and pillage natural resources, at our peril. We live in a world where the challenge is to use more, but to consume less, and recycling can be immensely innovative on that score. Indeed the universe is all about recycling; giving back what is taken in one form or another - so why are we so lazy about this issue? We still don't understand the true implications of altering our terrestrial ecosystem, let alone the impact of meddling with deep ocean environments, and yet it seems we still haven't gotten rid of our short-term, throwaway mentality.

After all life is about the long run; and who can deny the durability of the human spirit? As we shift towards healthy eating and busy lives, humans are living longer than previous generations, but reports are saying that as nations we are "woefully under prepared" for the social and economic challenges presented by an ageing society, and an ageing workforce. Health is the most talked topic on the internet, and the focus of the future will be on care.

Empathy is always difficult, however, during times of personal hardship; more people than ever on the Earth, less to go around it seems - more so with the economic climate remaining so unstable with a yet-to-be-tried miracle cure for our economic malaise no closer. Even nations that once prided themselves on looking after the less able in their societies, like the United Kingdom, have now begun to tax the unemployed poor and disabled to claw back as much revenue as it can, while cutting financial aid to them at the same time.

Taking a step back and looking at these hard times as just a decade, a period or moment in history can in many ways help us to carry on and look forward with a more than a modicum of hope for the future. Things always get better; history and its archivists show that as one period ends, another begins, and that is just the nature of things. Music, and drama, and other artistic pursuits can all help us work through out troubles, while also help others with similar challenges. And sometimes the talented amongst us throw into the turbulent mix works that speak directly to the moment to become a documenter of our times.

Art has been used to illustrate and illuminate history for centuries, from the Bayeux Tapestry to the poets of the First World War. Sometimes popular music can act as a historical record, too, capturing the sentiment of a time and place. From the Motown movement in the 1960s which reflected the growing racial integration to maybe just one song like the Beatles "All You Need Is Love" released in 1967 - known as the summer of love. And the unique musical history of Coventry, in England, highlights a decade that is very relevant to our current times, when it captured the thoughts of a generation like no other. The music itself struck the right note with young people all across the country, driving home a message that defined their decade.

Like many cities in the UK during the late 1970s and early 80s there was a huge recession, and Coventry was under a great strain of unemployment and political right-wing racial tension, with riots exploding all over the country. It was on the backdrop of that that the 2-Tone music label was founded in Coventry. Blending ska, reggae, pop and punk, it was a mix of black and white music, with new dance moves and retro clothing - but more importantly it had a message that everyone could identify with, making haunting, doom laden tracks about the UK in decay.

The social aspect and issues of racism were suggestive of the name 2-Tone, black and white to represent racial harmony, but the music was also about the man-woman, rich-poor divides, too. The ideology of togetherness wasn't just expressed in music, it became a fashion statement - but the music became iconic through the monochromatic artwork. It was about mixing the stereotypes and the music, and supporting each other through hardship. Musical historians today say the energy created by 2-Tone musicians during their live gigs in the 70s was magnetic, because it drew recognition to the fact that everybody hurts.

Music speaks volumes about history, and as history repeats itself, so does the music, and so will we until we learn the lessons of the past. With high unemployment, a struggling economy and racial issues still making the news, it seems the message of 2-Tone is still very relevant today. For we are caring beings; we have the potential to understand our responsibility for all life on our planet, and to take care of those less well off than ourselves. In the UK, celebrities and the public have helped this year's Comic Relief charity telethon raise a record £75m so far for those in need. Caring needn't be a burden, either; our societies are ageing, but older people need to be cared about, not just cared for - because there are many people who remain fit and active well into their nineties.

It's all how we look at things. Times change, and we must change with the times. In our relationships, too, there is now more focus on the emotional bond between a man and a woman, but this is far from global. While countries like India struggle with its demeaning attitude towards women, in the West although many women are in powerful positions, their presence and importance is still not properly acknowledged. Even in developed countries, women still feel as though they need to choose between a career and motherhood, while crossing gender boundaries, free societies are still having to fight to allow marriage equality for same-sex couples - many of whom face daily discrimination.

But the freedom and happiness of others will stop being a threat to our way of life when we realise that life is about getting a balance between our feelings and our conscience. Likewise, with our technology and Earth's resources, we need to bring enrichment to our lives that is not at the cost to the natural world. We can take lessons from the music scene in Coventry in the 70s, and opt for more harmony in all areas of our lives.

Love is the true balancer in life.

Being human, and surviving in the world, seems to get more and more complicated the more complex society becomes; but are there any rules we can follow to help us - kind of like a survival guide? Some believe life is a like a huge budget movie going on in your head, and that it is up to you what we script. So, let's think about how we can script our survival. The physical boundaries may be a given, but we have a choice in the decisions we make.

Are there rules for being human?

Providing ten rules to being human, author and life coach Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott references Helen Keller, an American deafblind activist who said that life is a succession of lessons that must be lived to be understood. Here is a brief summary and explanation of Carter-Scott's "Rules for Being Human".

The ten rules for being human

• Rule one - You will receive a body. You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth. So accept it. What should count to YOU is what's inside.
• Rule two - You will be presented with lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life". Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum. You might not choose the curriculum, but you can choose when and what lessons to take. Simply put, life is a constant learning experience, which every day provides opportunities for you to learn more. These lessons are specific to you, and learning them is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.
• Rule three - There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much as a part of the process as the experiments that work. Your development towards wisdom is a process of experimentation, trial and error, so it's inevitable things will not always go to plan or turn out how you'd want. Compassion is the remedy for harsh judgement - of ourselves and others. Forgiveness is not only divine - it's also the act of erasing an emotional debt. Behaving ethically, with integrity, and with humour - especially the ability to laugh at yourself and your own mishaps - are central to the perspective that "mistakes" are simply lessons we must learn.
• Rule four - The lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can go on to the next lesson. It has been given as a definition of insanity when we repeat something expecting different results, and what manifest as problems and challenges, irritations and frustrations are more lessons - they will repeat until you see them as such and learn from them. Lessons repeat until learned; your own awareness and your ability to change are requisites of executing this rule. Also fundamental is the acceptance that you are not a victim of fate or circumstance - "causality" must be acknowledged; that is to say: things happen to you because of how you are and what you do. To blame anyone or anything else for your misfortunes is an escape and a denial; you yourself are responsible for you, and what happens to you. Patience is required - change doesn't happen overnight, so give change time to happen.
• Rule five - Learning does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned. While you are alive there are always lessons to be learned. Surrender to the "rhythm of life", don't struggle against it. Commit to the process of constant learning and change - be humble enough to always acknowledge your own weaknesses, and be flexible enough to adapt from what you may be accustomed to, because rigidity will deny you the freedom of new possibilities.
• Rule six - "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will look better to you than your present "here". This is the "grass is always greener on the other side" syndrome - the other side of the hill may be greener than your own, but being there is not the key to endless happiness. Be grateful for and enjoy what you have, and where you are on your journey. Appreciate the abundance of what's good in your life, rather than measure and amass things that do not actually lead to happiness. Living in the present helps you attain peace.
• Rule seven - Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. You love or hate something about another person according to what love or hate about yourself. Be tolerant; accept others as they are, and strive for clarity of self-awareness; strive to truly understand and have an objective perception of your own self, your thoughts and feelings. Negative experiences are opportunities to heal the wounds that you carry. Support others, and by doing so you support yourself. Where you are unable to support others it is a sign that you are not adequately attending to your own needs.
• Rule eight - What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. Take responsibility for yourself. Learn to let go when you cannot change things. Don't get angry about things - bitter memories clutter your mind. Courage resides in all of us - use it when you need to do what's right for you. We all possess a strong natural power and adventurous spirit, which you should draw on to embrace what lies ahead.
• Rule nine - Your answers lie inside of you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. Trust your instincts and your innermost feelings, whether you hear them as a little voice or a flash of inspiration. Listen to feelings as well as sounds. Look, listen, and trust. Draw on your natural inspiration.
• Rule ten - You will forget all this at birth. You can remember it if you want by unravelling the double helical of inner-knowing. We are all born with all of these capabilities - our early experiences lead us into a physical world, away from our spiritual selves, so that we become doubtful, cynical and lacking belief and confidence. The ten Rules are not commandments, they are universal truths that apply to us all. When you lose your way, call upon them. Have faith in the strength of your spirit. Aspire to be wise - wisdom the ultimate path of your life, and it knows no limits other than those you impose on yourself.

At first glance it might seem cruel that we are condemned to forget lessons only to learn them the hard way, but looked at from a different perspective, it is the best way to learn. Being spoon-fed lessens the power of knowledge; it is only when it becomes experience does it gain the requisite gravitas to mean something to us.

The correct application of knowledge is bound by the meaning we attach to it, while the journey of discovering is - some say - the real answer to that age old question about what it is that makes us human. It is like an archaeological dig into our humanity, as we go over old ground walked by many before us.

And yet in each of us, there is a little voice that knows exactly which way to go. We can all learn to listen to it, even though it can cause so much grief and havoc, because following your heart is the only answer. Rather than carry a "knapsack of unfinished business" that cannot be unshouldered, our road is a multi-directional road with many turns to make, so we have to make the best of what makes the best out of us.

What is helpful, though, is that we don't respond to what is not calling, and that we remember that it's all about joy, if nothing else. Humanity seems to have forgotten that this planet is for joy, and the journey in between what you once were, and who you are now becoming, is where the dance of life really takes place.

If you look at the advancement of humanity, it fundamentally depends on creative innovation and the enjoyment of it. Psychologists have looked at how we make the leap to creative insight, and in the past decade there has been a surge of interest to understand how insight works. These are the moments when without thinking logically and methodically we come up with a flash of insight.

Get creative with challenges

Insight is a critical element in the creative process, because creative solutions are about overcoming assumptions - it is about realising there is a third way or other options and solutions to discover when we think "out of the box". But the thing about these insightful or "a-ha" moments is that they are fleeting and elusive, and it's very hard to study why and how insight works in our brains.

Studies have looked if one hemisphere is generally more involved in generating insight - the left side of the brain traditionally associated with logical thinking and language, or the right side, often linked with spatial awareness and intuition. One study has shown that the right hemisphere is more sensitive, and more likely than the left to make that connection that leads to a sudden flash of insight. Other research has shown, however, that the brain is not nearly as dichotomous as once thought, and it is believed that our mind is actually strongest when both halves of the brain work together.

Thinking creatively is a defining feature of the human species, and it's important to try and understand all the different mental processes that together help make us creative - how they work in our brains - because if we understand them we might all become a bit more creative. The ability to think in novel and useful ways can all help our survival, as we try to rise above our personal and global challenges that face us today.

Scientists believe creativity has been essential to the success of humans; every single conceptual leap forward by our species, in some way, was a form of creativity. Many of us associate creativity with artists and music and dance, but science and technological innovation is just as creative. It helped us to fly to the Moon, to cure illnesses, to develop micro-processors - you can see it everywhere. What is invented by humans, had to first be dreamed by them.

In the past, studying creativity was limited to what could be measured from the outside by observing human behaviour and psychology, but now the tools of neuroscience have allowed scientists to look inside the brain, to try and capture inspiration as it strikes. It's a new science, but it is already come up with a systematic way to induce "a-ha" moments that spark our creativity.

There has been scientific debate about whether the brain processes that induce insight is separate from other processes (because it feels different), or not - but studies have shown that we really are thinking differently when we have a creative moment. A striking increase in high energy brainwaves called gamma waves erupts from one spot in the right side of the brain. An interesting fact about meditation is that it can help induce such brainwaves, and artists that have used meditation for inspiration now seem to have scientific backing for its use.

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Although the two sides of the brain mirror each other, it is believed that there is a subtle, but very real, structural difference. The neurons differ subtly on the left and right hemisphere of the brain in the ways they are wired. The way they collect information seem to branch differently in at least some of the neurons on the left and right side of the brain. Characteristically they seem to have a broader branching on the right side of the brain, so that each neuron is collecting information from a broader source of input. This allows them to find connections that might not otherwise be evident.

Thus, studies into insight in creativity suggest that brain cells on the left is useful for pulling in information nearby, while the cells on the right branch out much further, and pull together distant and unrelated ideas. So, it's here that novel connections between concepts get made in a flash of insight.

This "a-ha" process is not instantaneous as it would appear to be, though, because before the gamma wave spike that marks the moment an idea pops into our awareness, there are other energy waves at work. There is a burst of alpha waves in the right side at the back of the brain, which is an area known for visual processing, while alpha waves are known for brain areas "shutting down" as they occur when we are relaxed or calm - like when we meditate.

Read about the power of meditation.

Effectively the brain's visual cortex is momentarily shut down; the brain "blinks" seconds before the burst of gamma waves, to allow the emergence of an insight. What begins as an idea rumbling around the unconscious mind, requires the effect of alpha waves to cut us off from distractions - to go not with what the eyes see, but what we feel - to get that burst of creative inspiration, helping us summon a new solution into awareness. If our attention is drawn inwardly, we are more likely to solve the problem at hand with a flash of insight. Furthermore, the scientific evidence suggests if you want to have more insights, cutting off distractions from the outside world for a short period of time could increase creativity.

Scientists tell us that insights don't appear as if from nowhere, they unfold from a chain of events in the brain, and it begins with a problem - one that logic cannot solve. And increasingly we are seeing that the challenges being thrown up to our survival require more creative thinking than ever before. Love might seem illogical, working from a perspective of joy even more so, but when we are led by the heart and not the eyes, that voice inside will often show us an innovative solution to a current problem.

Possibly this is the real - and only true - rule to being human. Although insight on its own is just one of the mental processes that make up creativity, it is the spark that ignites it. And for us to shine that light into all the dark corners of our world, we need to cut through the superficial distractions, and see the real issue - that we are all one family, living in one home, and we will either all stand, or else all fall, together.

Yours in love,